Virgin Charter kicks off domestic private service

by Grant Martin on

Subsidiaries of Virgin keep manifesting like mold on bread, largely, I believe, because Richard Branson is not stupid-rich enough. Did you know that he bought his own island when he was like 30?

Branson’s new airline project, Virgin Atlantic America Blue Express Nigeria Charter is actually more of a network of private domestic airline companies. Each of the charter services are run and owned separately — Virgin just supplies the logistics to mange and load all of the planes so that they can fit the maximum number of passengers into the open charter seats. Nearly half of charters, you see, run empty because people only charter a plane one way (it wont wait while they’re there — another one will come back for the return flight).

With Virgin’s technology, those loads will be managed so that most legs should be occupied. It’s a pretty good idea and I’m surprised nobody thought of it before, I suppose Branson just had the know-how and capital to get the idea off the ground.

As far as price, don’t plan on taking a Virgin Charter any time soon. Chartered flights can run up into the thousands of dollars per leg, so they’re only really good for niche or wealthy travelers. I’m still waiting on the enquiry I posted for prices between Detroit and New York. I think they’re on to me.

[Via TechCrunch]

Bump season is upon us

by Grant Martin on

Spring break is upon us, ladies and gentlemen, which means that bump season is getting kicked into high gear. With the sudden spike in demand, airlines are going to be overbooking flights left and right, which means that casual travelers like you and I can take advantage of the system and start collecting vouchers for taking later flights.

Usually, the spring break bump season lasts through the entire month of March and into early April. Things die down or 6 – 8 weeks or so after that, then summertime travel hits and bumps increase in volume again. Bumptracker has some legacy data on this.

So if you’re flying in the next few weeks, take a look at seatcounter to see if your flight is oversold or near full. Plugging in your date and airline, you can tell if this is the case if there are all zeroes or mostly low numbers next to your flight. You can also ask at the gate or call the airline before departure; they’re obligated to tell you if the flight is oversold.

In case you’re worried about the ramifications of being bumped off a regularly scheduled flight, fear not — here at Gadling we’ve created a thorough guide to bumping, what it means, how to do it and how to work it to your advantage.

Check it out here.

Get out there and get kicked off some flights!

Does global warming make air travel unethical?

by Aaron Hotfelder on

That’s the question recently considered by two blogging economists, Tyler Cowen and Will Wilkinson. One reader presents his situation:

“If I don’t fly from London to my sister’s wedding in New Zealand she will be upset, I will cause her pain and so that’s morally bad. If I do fly to my sister’s wedding in New Zealand I will put about four tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which will contribute to climate change, which, according to the World Health Organisation, already causes about 150,000 deaths every year. Clearly that’s also morally bad. Which is the morally correct thing to do?”

Tyler seems to punt on this question, stating that having children is much worse for the environment than flying. He writes, a little tongue-in-cheek, “So people with no biological children should be allowed to fly a lot and people with lots of biological children should not get to fly so much at all.” I don’t think Tyler’s actually recommending a new law, or a “carbon quota”; instead, he’s just trying to re-order our priorities a little. Sure, flying is bad for the environment, but having children is much worse.

Will Wilkinson answers the same question another way. “Your choice is very unlikely to determine whether or not an airplane leaves London for New Zealand. So, chances are extremely high that the same amount of carbon will be emitted whether or not you choose to go… So, if not being a horrible selfish brat of a brother matters to you at all, then you should go.”

Just like voting, one individual flying on a plane is highly unlikely to make a difference to the environment in the grand scheme of things. To forego a trip to New Zealand for your sister’s wedding would be almost completely symbolic– that plane is leaving with or without you. But if you care enough about global warming to make such a choice, you might surprise people with your principle, and change their behaviors too.

Still, if it were me, I’m getting on that plane.

Check out Gadling’s recent interview with Tyler Cowen here.

Crazy cross-wind landing caught on video

by Grant Martin on

If you’ve ever been on your final approach during landing and noticed the plane shifting around laterally, you’ve experienced cross-winds. Usually this phenomenon is mitigated by proper runway placement, which is why you’ll usually see runways going in different directions at larger airports. But if the winds shift or if the airport only has one runway, pilots will occasionally be forced to land in a heavy crosswind.

Kent can tell you more, but to cut to the chase, wind blowing on the side of the airplane during landing is not an ideal environment. It makes it really difficult to land. Check out this video of an A320 landing in heavy cross-winds in Hamburg. Scary huh?

Cockpit Chronicles: How pilots choose their schedules

by Kent Wien on

Today’s flight was a turn (out and back in the same day) from Boston to Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic. The airplane was a 767, which is always nice to fly. We’re able to fly either the 757 or the 767 using the same procedures and training. I think most pilots prefer flying the 767 versus the 757. It’s something we don’t see as often and it handles differently — a little like going from a Honda’s power steering (the 757) to a Cadillac (the 767).

We had some snow pass through Boston a few hours before departure but the airplane was already de-iced and ready to go by the time we arrived. Since the flight time was over 8 hours for the day, we had a relief co-pilot (FB) on board. Tom was the FB, which meant he would typically do the walk around inspection while I did the interior preflight. I stayed nice and warm while loading the FMS (flight computer that stored our flight plan and works similar to a GPS) and checking the equipment.

The flight down to Santo Domingo went without a hitch. We talked a bit about what trips everyone would be flying in March. For most pilots, there are two dates around the middle of the month that are almost like Christmas. The first is the day our bid sheets come out and the second is the day we get our schedule for the next month. A bid sheet is a print out of every possible schedule we can fly. It shows the trips and the days you’ll be flying them. You simply arrange your preferences in the order you want to fly them and hope someone more senior doesn’t pick the schedule that you’re hoping for.

For those pilots flying the 757 and the 767 internationally from Boston, there are 27 different schedules we can choose that fly four different kinds of trips:

  • Turns (one-day trips) – to Saint Thomas, Santo Domingo or Aruba. These high time trips give you the most days off.
  • A three-day Barbados – not much flight time, which means you’ll fly more days in a month, but the full day on the beach on the second day makes up for that.
  • The two-day London – a high time trip that most pilots prefer.
  • The three-day Panama City and Caracas – that departs very early the first day and gets back after midnight on the third day.

These trips change every couple of months, which is why the bid sheet is eagerly awaited every month. Even though there aren’t many different destinations to choose from, I can’t remember a time when we’ve had so many quality trips. I’d be thrilled to hold any of the first three trips above. The Panama City and Caracas layovers tend to go junior, meaning the pilots with the least amount of seniority usually fly there. Even after 15 years at the company, I’m relatively ‘junior’ on the list, with 4/5ths of the other co-pilots above me. The first six pilots usually choose the London flights, and the Caribbean turns where you’re home every night are usually the next most popular.

If you’re at the bottom 20%, you’re likely to find yourself on reserve, which is like being ‘on call.’ If someone calls in sick, the company will call you to fly. Usually you find out what you’ll be doing the day before. Reserve pilots usually fly less often than a scheduled pilot would and they get paid a flat 90% of a full schedule.

I’ve been lucky enough to hold a line for the last six months straight, but I was awarded a reserve schedule for next month. Hopefully I’ll get called out for a NY or Miami based trip (they often run short of pilots there) to someplace we don’t fly to from Boston.

We go to training every nine months, and I’m scheduled to go down for five days of training next month. Of course I’ll be writing about that.

As we approached Santo Domingo today, we had our usual challenge in understanding the controllers there. The tower controller was especially difficult to understand. Since the runway is closed for repairs, we’re landing on what was formerly the taxiway. Because of this, we had to turn around on the runway to taxi back to the gate. After our runway “U-turn” we were looking straight at a Cessna Caravan a few hundred feet off the ground heading toward us. The Caravan pilot obviously saw us, and I’m sure he just continued his approach until it became completely obvious that the controller’s plan wasn’t going to work. He went around and lined up again for landing a few minutes later.

Maybe I’ll bid around flying to Santo Domingo for a while. With just a little more seniority I should be able to reliably hold the Panama City/Caracas trips. And once you get a schedule, you are free to trade around, which is how I’ve been able to fly to London and Barbados on occasion.

With your seniority number deciding what trips you fly, what base you fly from, when your vacation occurs and, most importantly, when you will upgrade to captain, you can imagine just how important this number is to pilots. It’s so important, in fact, that it can even hold up an airline’s merger plans.

Cockpit Chronicles takes you along on each of Kent’s trips as a co-pilot on the Boeing 757 and 767 out of Boston.